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| Kings of War Ed2 Rulebook from Mantic Games image © Mantic Games |
Wargame Book: Kings of War Ed2 Rulebook, Series: Kings of War, Setting: Mantica, Rules: Kings of War Ed2, Company: Mantic Games, Production: 2015-2016-
Designer: Alessio Cavatore
Features: hardcover
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Opening the book
The book is very nice, good cover, great illustrations, they really get me in the mood of playing battles. The book itself is somewhat smaller than the usual rulebooks I have. The binding is good, the hardcover protects the book from damage during gaming. The paper is good quality. The book is full colour, the art (mostly line-art) and the photos are nice.
After a year of use the book is still in good shape, and pages didn't fall out of it, so I think it's a durable product.
Contents (208 pages)
- A World at War (p6-45, 40 pages, 19%): Setting info about a generic fantasy world.
- Rules (p48-88, 41 pages, 20%): Rules. You'll only need to read them if you'd like to play Kings of War. Most of it can be download for free.
- Magical artefacts (p78-81, 4 pages, 2%): Nothing special, but could be worth reading for use in other games.
- Spells (p82-83, 2 pages, 1%): An interesting, short implementation of magic for wargames.
- Scenarios (p84-87, 4 pages, 2%): Six typical scenarios. Five of them are not included in the free rules.
- Force lists (p92-p205, 114 pages, 55%): Army lists. It could be interesting to read through them to get some ideas for you, even if you won't play Kings of War. Most parts of the army lists can be downloaded for free, but about half of them are published in the rulebooks only. Includes: Forces of the Abyss, Forces of Nature, Undead, Dwarfs, Elves, Abyssal Dwarfs, Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, Basileans and the Kingdoms of Men
- Modelling notes (p206-207, 2 pages, 1%): How to set up your miniatures.
Reading the book
The book is good, easy to comprehend, full of setting info that helps the players get into the mood of the game.
The text: The text is easy to read. I think the language is easy to understand even for those who've learnt English as a second language.
Setting: The setting is a generic fantasy world. There's nothing exceptional here, but it has extensive information about the history of the world and the people.
Rules: The rules look easy to follow and I've felt I understand most of them for the first read-through, or at least I'll know where to look them up.
It was interesting that although it's universally accepted among Kings of War players that moving trays are a must for a KoW game, but the whole concept of trays is just mentioned in the appendix in one paragraph as an option.
I have hard time finding the armies in the Army Lists section. They are not in alphabetic order, and I have hard time memorising their place in the book, so I always have to browse through the whole thing to find a unit I'm looking for. If you are not afraid to vandalise your book, you could put post-it notes in it, so you'll be able to find them easier.
Information: While I can't be sure but I suppose the rules give you everything you need to know about playing Kings of War, without the need to know further wargames (or the first edition of this game).
Features
Who will need this?
If you are interested in the Kings of War wargame, reading the rulebook is a good idea. It's better than reading the rules and army lists that you can download for free, and has more setting info than the Gamer's Edition Rulebook. If you are not opposed to playing Kings of War, and you can get one very cheap, having the Gamer's Edition is better for playing games than the hardcover, in case you ever have the opportunity to play.
If you'd like to start to play Kings of War and start an army, so you'd like to get to know their rules, reading the hardcover Rulebook is a good choice as it will give background information about your chosen army. It's also good to have it to get a better grip of the setting. For playing, however, the Gamer's Edition will suffice.
If you already have the hardcover, there is the Gamer's Edition, that is smaller, lighter version of the rules, although the setting info is omitted. If you'd like to leave the hardcover in the safety of your home, you can buy the Gamer's Edition and use that when you play games.
Recommendation
Possible uses
Resources
Mantic Games: Kings of War 2nd Edition Rulebook: Official page.
Ashley Hughes (for Lychgate Gaming): Kings of War, Second Edition: Review article. (2020.04.16: The website is offline.)
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Price
Base price (Kings of War Ed2 Rulebook): 25 GBP / 35 EUR / 40 USD
Base set price (Kings of War 2nd Edition Deluxe Game Edition): 50 GBP / 70 EUR / 85 USD
- Includes: Kings of War Ed2 Rulebook (25 GBP), Kings of War Ed2 Gamer's Edition Rulebook (12,5 GBP), Kings of War Game Counter Set (25 GBP), Kings of War Damage Trackers (15 GBP) = 77,5 GBP = 65% price
- Price for Rulebook: 16,1 GBP
Mantic Games: Kings of War 2nd Edition Rulebook: Official page.
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Do you have the Kings of War Ed2 Rulebook from Mantic Games? How do you like it? Would you recommend them to others? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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